| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Spruce Hill, MA |
|
 | Trails: |
Hoosac Range Trail, bushwhacks, Busby Trail, Central Shaft Rd, Stryker Rd |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, January 4, 2026 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Mid-sized lot wth room for maybe a dozen cars or so on Rt 2. A few others there before mine around 11:30am on a Sunday nd there was room or plenty more. Note that if you're driving up from the west (North Adams), you'll be driving up the western flank of this mountain range, with a hairpin turn in the road just under a mile from the trailhead, so the driving can be a little sketchy in inclement weather. For example, the roads were mostly snow covered during my road walk, but dry in the valley. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
I don't recall anything of significance. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Hoosac Range Trail was blazed in red and white, and Busby Trail in blue. Jcts were well signed. I don't recall any blowdowns but that doesn't mean there weren't any. Trails were easy to follow even with snow. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
None seen, but sure. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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|
 | Comments: |
A nice Sunday redline of the Hoosac Range Trail and Busby Trail. The trailhead starts at the base of the ridge and at such a high elevation that this is a pretty gentle hike that's basically just a ridgewalk to the peak with very little elevation gain. Not too many of these. For that reason though, I underestimated how much snow there'd be at the time (it seems like, for whatever reason, this area to the east of North Adams gets more snow than the area to the west which includes much taller peaks, like Greylock, but seems to get less snow). While I got along fine without snowshoes this was the first (and I think the only) hike this winter, where the snow cover was actually halfway decent enough that I could have worn them the whole hike (or at least on the ridge; I think Busby Trail had less). There was some drifting along the ridge and the snow, at its deepest, was maybe 2ft. Lots of viewpoints along the way, not necessarily signed as a viewpoint, but I think there was always a sign at them indicating trail distances. There was one spot of exposed ice that I managed without any traction.
Spruce Hill is a NE 2000 Footer, so I was sure to hit the highpoint. The highpoint is not on the southern end of the ridge where the two trails meet, but rather in the middle. There are two contending bumps about 0.1mi apart along the ridge. The trail does not go over either of them, but there's a view spur to a bump just to the north. I returned to the trail for each since I was redlining, but you could easily just walk the ridge between the two. The northern of the two contenders was a very short whack just a couple hundred feet (if that) off trail without a steep climb. There's a small cairn there, and, looking around, it doesn't seem as if the other bump could be higher...
The other bump is just slightly further off trail and involves a steeper climb to get to. Don't turn off the trail too late, or you'll encounter some scrambling. At the top, there's a fallen shelter of some sort. At the viewpoint which the guidebook calls the summit at the end of the ridge where the two trails meet, there are two ways up the viewpoint spur, both steep, and one of which has snow underneath the ice. I slid here. I made a last-minute decision to descend Busby Trail and walk back to my car. Busby Trail is steeper towards its end, but flattens out and largely follows an old road down. I walked roads back to my car and just a funny note: Stryker Rd had plenty of houses on it that all looked normal and some quite nice, but I swear not a single one had a light on, or car in the driveway. It was like it had suddenly been abandoned or everyone was on vacation...weird. When I got back to my car, I had to reascend to Sunset Rock by the eastern part of the loop as I didn't redline that on my way up, thinking I'd return the same way. Note that you'll only hit Sunset Rock/the viewpoint if you take the eastern half of the loop. Gaia had me at 9.6mi, 1250ft of gain, 5hr6min. |
|
 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
|
 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2026-01-24 |
|
 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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